Council To Vote On Land Swap With Hu

Hampton University and the city of Hampton are planning a land swap so the university can expand its new cancer center and the city will have a large tract to market as an industrial park - or possibly a new location for the Air Force Cyber Command.

The City Council will vote today on whether to sell a 5.317-acre property to the university for $943,280. In turn, the university will sell an 18.69-acre plot to the city for more than $2 million. Both pieces of property are in the Magruder corridor area

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Monday, December 24, 2007.A story in Wednesday's Local section incorrectly stated the acreage the city of Hampton plans to buy from Hampton University. For $2.09 million, the city will buy 18.69 acres from the university, not 8.69 acres. (Text corrected.)

The city will gain a key piece of land west of Magruder Boulevard, in Hampton Roads Center North, which allows Hampton to market the land for development.

"Hampton Roads Center North is really our future...it is the last frontier for the city of Hampton," said Economic Development Director Jimmy Eason.

Eason said the city has been talking with the university about purchasing the land for years as part of a long-term plan for development there. He said it has nothing to do with a possible location for Cyber Command.

However, a number of city officials who are courting the Air Force to locate a new command center in Hampton have suggested Hampton Roads Center North would be an ideal location.

No matter how the land is used, the property swap is beneficial for the university and the city, officials said.

"It's a win-win situation," said Hampton University President William R. Harvey.

The university will get a piece of land south of Hampton Roads Center Parkway, in Hampton Roads Center South, between Magruder Boulevard and Interstate 64. The property is on the other side of a lake from where the university's new Proton Therapy Institute is being built. The first building is already under construction and the institute will open to patients in 2010, Harvey said.

The university wanted the additional land to build a 20,000-square-foot research facility and a 175-bed hotel for patients. University officials said the institute will attract cancer patients from all over the country because it will be one of just five of its kind.

Patients could be treated for as long as five to nine weeks, Harvey said, and they'll need a place to stay that's nearby.

"What we will have is pretty much a campus to treat people with cancer on both sides of the lake," Harvey said. "We want it to be a very pleasant experience as they fight a very dreaded disease."